Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (S.C. 2003, c. 7)

Marginal note:Requiring additional information

• 43 (1) A designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board may require the proponent to provide any supplementary information that it considers necessary for its assessment, whether or not it has commenced the assessment.

• Marginal note:Suspension

  (2) If the proponent fails to provide the required supplementary information within the period prescribed by the rules, the designated office, executive committee or panel of the Board may suspend its assessment activities until the proponent provides that information and it must make the reasons for the suspension public if it does so.

• Marginal note:Termination of assessment

  (3) If a proponent does not provide the required supplementary information within two years after the day on which the request is made, the assessment of the project is discontinued, unless the Board grants an extension of that period.

• Marginal note:Extension of time limit

  (4) The Board may extend the period referred to in subsection (3) by a maximum of one year.

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (5) For greater certainty, the proponent may submit a new proposal in relation to the project in accordance with section 50.

• Marginal note:Consideration of previous assessments

  (6) In conducting an assessment of the project to which the new proposal relates, a designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board must consider, and may rely on, any assessment activities previously carried out under this Act in respect of the project.

Marginal note:Regional land use plans

• 44 (1) If a regional land use plan is in effect in a planning region established under a final agreement, a designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall, when conducting an assessment of a project proposed in the planning region, request the planning commission established under the final agreement to advise it as to whether the project is in conformity with the regional land use plan, unless such a request has already been made in relation to the project.

• Marginal note:Non-conformity with plan

  (2) A designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall, if advised by the planning commission for a planning region, before or during its assessment of a project, that the project is not in conformity with the regional land use plan, consider the regional land use plan and invite the planning commission to make representations to it with respect to the project.

• Marginal note:Recommendation for project

  (3) Where a designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board recommends that a project referred to in subsection (2) be allowed to proceed, it shall, to the extent possible, recommend terms and conditions that will bring the project into conformity with the regional land use plan.

Marginal note:Pending land use plan

• 45 (1) When a planning commission established for a planning region under a final agreement notifies the executive committee and designated offices that it is preparing a regional land use plan pursuant to the final agreement, the executive committee and each designated office whose assessment district includes any part of the planning region shall provide the planning commission with the information in its possession about every project in the planning region for which an assessment is pending.

• Marginal note:Representations

  (2) The executive committee shall invite a planning commission that is preparing a land use plan to make representations to it and to each panel of the Board that is conducting a review of a project, and each designated office that is conducting an evaluation of a project shall invite the planning commission to make representations to it.

Marginal note:Participation by interested persons

46 Subject to subsections 60(4), 95(4) and 103(4), a designated office, the executive committee or a panel of the Board shall provide and publicize opportunities for interested persons and the public to participate in any assessment conducted by it.

Time Limits

Marginal note:Authority and validity

46.1 The failure of the federal minister, the Minister of the Environment, the territorial minister, the Board, a decision body, a designated office, the executive committee, a panel of the Board or a joint panel to exercise a power or perform a duty or function within a period provided for under this Act does not terminate their authority to do so nor does it invalidate any document prepared or submitted or any decision or action taken in the exercise or performance of their powers, duties or functions.

Proposed Activities Subject to Assessment

Marginal note:Regulations identifying activities

• 47 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) listing activities that may be made subject to assessment; and

  • (b) making exceptions from activities so listed.

• Marginal note:Circumstances

  (2) An activity listed under paragraph (1)(a) — and not excepted under paragraph (1)(b) — is subject to assessment if proposed to be undertaken in Yukon and if

  • (a) a federal agency or federal independent regulatory agency is the proponent;

  • (b) a territorial agency, municipal government, territorial independent regulatory agency or first nation is the proponent and an authorization or the grant of an interest in land would be required for the activity to be undertaken by a private individual;

  • (c) an authorization or the grant of an interest in land by a government agency, independent regulatory agency, municipal government or first nation is required for the activity to be undertaken; or

  • (d) an authorization by the Governor in Council is required for the activity to be undertaken.

Marginal note:Declarations

• 48 (1) Where an activity is listed under paragraph 47(1)(a) but is excepted under paragraph 47(1)(b), a declaration that the activity is subject to assessment may nevertheless be made, in circumstances referred to in subsection (3) or (4), by

  • (a) a federal agency that is the proponent of the activity or that has the power to issue an authorization or to grant an interest in land required for the activity to be undertaken;

  • (b) the federal minister, if the Governor in Council has the power to issue an authorization required for the activity to be undertaken or if a federal independent regulatory agency is the proponent of the activity or has the power to issue an authorization or to grant an interest in land required for the activity to be undertaken;

  • (c) the territorial minister, if a territorial agency, a municipal government or a territorial independent regulatory agency is the proponent of the activity or has the power to issue an authorization or to grant an interest in land required for the activity to be undertaken; or

  • (d) a first nation that is the proponent of the activity or that has the power to issue an authorization or to grant an interest in land required for the activity to be undertaken.

• Marginal note:Consent to declaration

  (2) A declaration that a particular activity is subject to assessment must be consented to by every person or body referred to in subsection (1) that has the power to make that declaration.

• Marginal note:Significant adverse effects

  (3) A declaration that an activity is subject to assessment may be made by the federal agency, federal minister, territorial minister or first nation if they are of the opinion that the activity might

  • (a) have significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in or outside Yukon; or

  • (b) contribute significantly to cumulative adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in combination with projects for which proposals have been submitted under subsection 50(1) or with other activities known to them that are proposed, undertaken or completed in or outside Yukon.

• Marginal note:Activity in protected area

  (4) A declaration that an activity is subject to assessment may also be made in respect of an activity if the activity is to be undertaken

  • (a) in an area that contains a heritage resource, other than a record only, or that is a heritage resource, and that is for that reason protected by federal, territorial or first nation law or that is identified, in a land use plan in effect under a final agreement, as an area that should be so protected;

  • (b) in a special management area that is identified as such in a final agreement or that is established in accordance with a final agreement; or

  • (c) in an area that forms the habitat for any species of plant or wildlife that is determined to be rare, threatened, endangered or at risk by or under federal, territorial or first nation law.

Marginal note:Emergencies exempted

• 49 (1) Notwithstanding sections 47 and 48, no assessment is required of an activity that is undertaken in response to a national emergency for which special temporary measures are being taken under the Emergencies Act, or in response to an emergency when it is in the interest of public welfare, health or safety or of protecting property or the environment that the activity be undertaken immediately.

• Marginal note:Reporting after emergencies

  (2) As soon as practicable after any such activity is completed, the person who undertook it shall send a written report to the designated office for each assessment district in which it was undertaken describing the nature, extent and duration of the activity and any work required in order to restore or rehabilitate the area affected by it.

49.1 [Repealed, 2017, c. 34, s. 2]

Proposals for Projects

Marginal note:Submission of proposals

• 50 (1) A proponent shall submit a proposal for a project

  • (a) to the executive committee, in the case of a project specified in regulations made under paragraph 122(c); or

  • (b) in any other case, to the designated office for the assessment district in which the project is to be undertaken, subject to the rules made under paragraph 31(2)(d).

• Marginal note:Considerations by proponent

  (2) The proponent of a project shall, in preparing a proposal, incorporate any appropriate mitigative measures and take into consideration the matters referred to in paragraphs 42(1)(b), (c), (e) and (f) and, if applicable, subsection 42(2.1), in the case of a proposal submitted to a designated office, or the matters referred to in those paragraphs, paragraphs 42(1)(g) to (h) and, if applicable, subsection 42(2.1), in the case of a proposal submitted to the executive committee.

• Marginal note:Consultation

  (3) Before submitting a proposal to the executive committee, the proponent of a project shall consult any first nation in whose territory, or the residents of any community in which, the project will be located or might have significant environmental or socio-economic effects.

• Marginal note:Notification of Environment Minister

  (4) The executive committee shall notify the Minister of the Environment of any proposal submitted to it under paragraph (1)(a) for a project for which there is a federal decision body.

Marginal note:Determination of scope

51 A designated office or the executive committee shall determine the scope of a project to be assessed by it, and shall include within the scope of the project, in addition to any activity identified in the proposal, any other activity that it considers likely to be undertaken in relation to an activity so identified and sufficiently related to it to be included in the project.

Marginal note:Grouping of related projects

52 A designated office or the executive committee shall assess as a single project two or more projects for which it has received proposals where it considers that the projects are so closely related as to be part of the same activity or where all the decision bodies for each of the projects have advised it that they consider the projects to be so related.

Marginal note:Evaluations by multiple designated offices

53 An evaluation may be conducted, in the manner provided by the rules made under paragraph 31(2)(e), by two or more designated offices jointly or by one of them on behalf of the other or others, where

• (a) a single project is located in two or more assessment districts; or

• (b) a designated office considers projects located in two or more assessment districts to be closely related.

Marginal note:Withdrawal of project

• 54 (1) A proponent that intends not to proceed with a project shall give notice to that effect to any body that has conducted or is conducting an assessment of the project and to any decision body that is considering recommendations relating to the project.

• Marginal note:Discontinuance

  (2) Any assessment of a project conducted by a body that is notified under subsection (1), and any consideration of a recommendation made in respect of the project by a decision body notified under that subsection, shall be discontinued.

Evaluation of Projects by Designated Offices

Marginal note:Preliminary determinations

• 55 (1) Where a proposal for a project is submitted to a designated office under paragraph 50(1)(b), the designated office shall

  • (a) consider whether the applicable rules have, in its opinion, been complied with and notify the proponent accordingly; and

  • (b) determine whether the project will be located, or might have significant environmental or socio-economic effects, in the territory of a first nation.

• Marginal note:Evaluation by designated office

  (2) A designated office shall commence the evaluation of a project as soon as possible after it notifies the proponent affirmatively under paragraph (1)(a).

• Marginal note:Information and views

  (3) A designated office may seek any information or views that it believes relevant to its evaluation.

• Marginal note:Information and views

  (4) Before making a recommendation under any of paragraphs 56(1)(a) to (c), a designated office shall seek views about the project, and information that it believes relevant to the evaluation, from any first nation identified under paragraph (1)(b) and from any government agency, independent regulatory agency or first nation that has notified the designated office of its interest in the project or in projects of that kind.

Marginal note:Conclusion of evaluation

• 56 (1) At the conclusion of its evaluation of the project, a designated office shall

  • (a) recommend to the decision bodies for the project that the project be allowed to proceed, if it determines that the project will not have significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in or outside Yukon;

  • (b) recommend to those decision bodies that the project be allowed to proceed, subject to specified terms and conditions, if it determines that the project will have, or is likely to have, significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in or outside Yukon that can be mitigated by those terms and conditions;

  • (c) recommend to those decision bodies that the project not be allowed to proceed, if it determines that the project will have, or is likely to have, significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects in or outside Yukon that cannot be mitigated; or

  • (d) refer the project to the executive committee for a screening, if, after taking into account any mitigative measures included in the project proposal, it cannot determine whether the project will have, or is likely to have, significant adverse environmental or socio-economic effects.

• (1.1) to (1.3) [Repealed, 2017, c. 34, s. 3]

• Marginal note:Notification

  (2) A recommendation under any of paragraphs (1)(a) to (c) shall be made in writing with reasons and a copy provided to the proponent.

• Marginal note:Notice of reasons for referral

  (3) The designated office shall provide written reasons for a referral under paragraph (1)(d) to the proponent, to any first nation identified under paragraph 55(1)(b) and to any government agency, independent regulatory agency or first nation that has notified the designated office of its interest in the project or in projects of that kind.

• Marginal note:Revised proposal

  (4) Following receipt of the reasons for referral, the proponent shall submit a revised proposal to the executive committee that takes into account the matters referred to in paragraphs 42(1)(b), (c) and (e) to (h).

• Marginal note:Documentation

  (5) Where a designated office refers a project to the executive committee, it shall provide the executive committee with copies of its documentation relating to the project.